Shortly after Kyle Shanahan was hired as offensive coordinator for the Falcons, quarterback Matt Ryan already was pouring over the new offensive scheme with the Atlanta skyline in the background from high atop his Buckhead condo.
The reporting work and Twitter post was courtesy of his lovely wife, Sarah Ryan.
For the first time in his NFL career, Ryan’s offense will undergo a total makeover.
When the offense switched hands from Mike Mularkey to Dirk Koetter for the 2012 season, Ryan taught Koetter the terminology as scheme adjustments were made.
It’s early in the offseason, and the offense is a work in progress as the new coordinator, new quarterbacks coach (Matt LaFleur) and the team’s all-time passing leader try to iron out a winning game plan. However, one thing is certain, “the read-option is out,” Ryan said.
Shanahan had that installed while in Washington for running-quarterback Robert Griffin III.
“There has been some really good collaboration on the offensive side,” Ryan said. “We’ve got a lot of work to do, a lot of time and effort to put in, but the first couple of days have been really, really good.”
Ryan started throwing to some of his receivers in the first phase of the offseason program, which started Monday.
“I was fortunate this past year to come out pretty healthy and to be able to get back into training pretty quickly,” Ryan said. “I took some time (off), got some rest, got away from here for a little bit and then started working out again to get back in shape.
“Now, I’m excited that we’re back and really starting to work with the new staff. We are trying to become as comfortable as possible and as quickly as possible.”
Ryan will miss wide receiver Harry Douglas, who was waived by the team after six productive seasons.
“Year to year, there are always going to be some changes,” Ryan said. “Certainly, this is my first experience with a new staff coming in and even more so, when you have a new staff come in, there’s going to be additional changes.
“At the wide receiver position, obviously Harry Douglas moves on and that’s tough because you play with somebody for a long time and you have a great (relationship with), but he’s going to do a great job in Tennessee.”
Ryan confirmed that Leonard Hankerson, who signed for $1 million while Douglas was slated to make $3.5 million, will get the first crack at replacing the trusty third receiver. Hankerson comes from Washington, where he played under Shanahan from 2011-13.
“It’s been great working with Hank early on,” Ryan said. “He’s kind of been a good sounding board for me. … He’s one of those guys I can say, ‘what are you guys thinking on this.’ Also, he can help those receivers out with some of the steps or with the timing-type stuff.”
Shanahan, son of former NFL head coach Mike Shanahan, was hired as an offensive coordinator at age 28 in 2008. After a smooth stay in Texans, he’s had a string of bumpy quarterback situations from Donovan McNabb to Griffin to Johnny Manziel in Cleveland last season.
“First and foremost, he has a ton of experience,” Ryan said. “He’s got a ton of (film clips) to go through. For me, it’s been a lot of, on my own time, trying to watch and process the seven or eight years of (film clips) that we’ve got all the way going back to Houston and what Matt Schaub did there.”
Ryan, a two-time Pro Bowler, doesn’t expect that there will be any issues.
“The best part of being able to work with those guys is that there’s open input from both sides,” Ryan said of Shanahan and LeFleur. “Obviously, I have my own experiences and things that I’ve done during my career. I think being able to blend a little bit of both, and to be able to learn some new things, use some of the things that they’ve done successfully and incorporate some of the things that we’ve done successfully or that I’ve done successfully here in the past.”
Shanahan’s offenses have had strong rushing attacks and produced a 1,600-yard running back in Washington’s Alfred Morris (2012).
“The one thing that you do see from this scheme is that they had success everywhere they’ve gone running the football,” Ryan said. “They’ve allowed a lot of different styles of backs, lots of different guys to really do a great job.”
The Falcons appear set to hand the ball over to second-year running back Devonta Freeman after releasing Steven Jackson over the offseason. They’ll likely draft a back while Antone Smith battles back from a fractured leg.
“It really has been impressive to watch them run the ball,” Ryan said.
The bootleg and rollouts will be apart of the offense.
“I’d go back to more when Mike Mularkey was here just in terms of the run game matching up and fitting with play-action and with some of the outside the pocket stuff,” Ryan said. “Just from the first week being together, I think that will be a little bit more of an emphasis.”
Another staple of Shanahan’s offense is the use of double tight-end formations, and the Falcons added tight ends Jacob Tamme and Tony Moeaki in free agency.
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